Alone
by Jasmine Dragon
Summary: Upon losing a loved one, Katara gains another. Takes place during the final battle. Zutara. [Warning: Character death inside, may make you cry]
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: If I owned avatar there would be NO MAIKO KISS!!!!!!!!!**

** A/N: Plot bunnies attacked. You know how it goes.**

She was cold all over. Her body numb, her limbs in a refusal to obey her will.

She just slumped over the body that lay before her, staring in disbelief.

His eyes were wide open, staring blankly at the ceiling they could no longer see. There was nothing but an echo of the person he once was etched on his face.

She looked away, gripping her stomach in an attempt to prevent the nausea that engulfed her from taking control. Her eyes were closed, tears rolling down her battle scarred cheeks. If she pretended it was not true, perhaps reality would alter, just this once.

Who would tease her, laugh at her "hair loopies", comfort her when she was down…

Who could comfort her now that he's gone?

Who would protect her; have her back when they fought?

When he was there, she was safe. She could charge straight at the enemy knowing he would always have her back. He would never let anything happen to her. But now, he was gone…

She broke into sobs, sitting over his mangled and scarred body, begging providence that they could somehow, in any way be together…

She wanted to hug him, tell him she loved him, she wanted him to wipe her tears like he did when mom died, she wanted to tell him that he was the greatest big brother ever.

But he had left her. He was gone, and had left her emotionally destroyed. Aang was alone.

It was all over.

The sound of her unstaunched sobs drowned out the footsteps approaching from behind.

He knew those sobs. He knew how rare they were, and he was curious as to what caused them; his reason for seeking her out dissolving on the spot – how could he fight her when she was like this?

Especially when her sobs reminded him of the first time he heard them, and what she offered to do then.

She had offered to try to heal his scar – perhaps he could offer to try to heal her broken heart?

No. She was the enemy, meant to be killed.

But she was fragile, brittle, and nothing in his code of honor said anything about harming helpless mourners.

His mind still halfway made up, he walked up behind her, close enough to see she was bent over the limp lifeless body of her brother.

He winced: another person to add to the dead. He hated the stench of their bodies; the cold look of the once living that was etched in their eyes.

Knowing her pain all too well, he said,

"Katara,"

He hadn't realized it, but he had never said her name before. All the nights he spent thinking over his choice in the crystal catacombs, he had always referred to her as "the water girl" or "her".

The name seemed oddly unfamiliar on his lips, but not unfriendly.

She heard her name. At first, she wasn't sure whether it was friend or foe. No foe knew her name, and if they did, she was too lowly to be called by it.

But that voice was etched in her memory. Those words that repeated themselves in her every time she healed an unconscious Aang were permanently carved in her mind.

_I _have_ changed._

Perhaps he truly had this time?

_No. _She mentally chastised herself for giving him yet _another _chance when he so clearly did not want, or deserve her trust.

"What do you want?" She asked, her voice teetering on the edge of breaking into sobs again. She could only hold in her grief for so long.

"I'm sorry." He truly was.

"No you're not," She said, with surprising firmness in her voice for a girl who was crying just moments before.

_What do you care? You're the Fire Lord's son. Spreading war and violence and hatred is in your blood._

She thought about repeating that speech, but decided against it. She was unsure if she would not break into sobs of anger by the time she finished saying it. And she did _**not **_want to appear weak in front of him.

She turned around. His expression was soft, hurt; he looked like a small child who was being urged to pet a ferocious looking animal that he had been assured was tame.

Steeling himself for the worst, he walked over, and sat down next to her, leaving about a foot's distance between them.

He did not raise his arms in a stanc. She did not take out her water. It was a silence, akward and uneasy, both waiting for the other to break the silence.

"I really am sorry," Zuko finally said, sincerity in his voice.

"I know," Katara said softly, wondering whether to cross her fingers or not. She decided against the latter.

"And I really have changed."

She turned to look him full in the face. It was softer, kinder than the one she remembered marching out of that fire nation ship the first time she saw him. She could not fear _this_ face. She could not love _that_ face.

Wait. Did she say love? No, she was being silly. He was the enemy, meant to be hated. Then why were they staring, or rather gazing, at each other like this?

She turned away to hide the blush that crept unbidden up her cheeks, and he stood up, saying,

"We should give him a proper send off,"

Grateful, but not trusting herself to speak, she nodded her head slowly.

He walked straight in front of him, and pointed both his arms at Sokka's limp body, and inhaled, about to cremate him.

"No!" Katara shrieked. What was he doing? She looked up at him, her eyes full of shock and disbelief.

Suddenly, the door creaked open, and footsteps echoed across the hall.

"Well done my son," Sounded Ozai's deadly, malicious voice. "Killing one is enough. The avatar cares for the other. Let her live… at least for now."

**A/N: Please review. I'm probably going to continue this, but only if you tell me too... personally, I think the Plot Bunnies will return for a continuation ;)**

**Jasmine **


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: If YOU ever own avatar can I have a share? Please?**

Zuko gripped her arm tightly as he roughly dragged her towards his room, each step opening and renewing the gaping hole inside her where Sokka used to be.

She walked further away from the Fire Lord's wrath, but also away from Sokka, his limp body left to his non-existent mercy.

But the relief of escaping imminent death slowly ebbed away as she now faced a new danger – Zuko, and what he suggested to his father he would do to her.

From the sound of what he said, he was about to violate her. She couldn't believe what a monster he was. Could he really do something like that?

And his father: how he sickened her. He actually sounded proud! He thought his son did not have the sadism to do something like that, but apparently, he was wrong. He was very welcome to do whatever he wanted with her, as a reward for his good work. Then he could dispose of her.

This was enough to make her want to throw up. The twisted way the heads of Fire Benders worked were beyond her comprehension, and right now, instead of comprehending the sadism that had engraved itself in the Fire Nation royal family due to generations of inbreeding, she really needed to figure out how to get out of this situation.

But she couldn't do it. Everything that had happened to her today – the fight, Sokka leaving her, having her heart broken by the same person once again… it was all too much to take in at once.

She thought he had changed. She really thought he had, but how many times could she tell him that?

She was a fool for ever trusting him. For ever hoping that someone as evil as him could redeem himself, for ever trusting a Fire Bender, after what his kind had done to her family.

He manhandled her into his room, and slammed the door shut behind him. Then, he immediately let go of her, jumping away as if she had given him an electric shock.

Her worst nightmares coming true, she looked around for some water, and when she couldn't find any, she made a feeble attempt to fight him hand to hand, raising her skinny fists to his strong form.

He walked right past her, saying, "I told you I had changed", leaving her looking as if she were about to fight the wall she was facing.

She embarrassedly corrected her thoughts about him. Everyone could change, everyone deserved a chance. For once her trust was placed rightly.

Relaxing her stance, she turned around to find Zuko sitting on his bed, swinging his legs slowly.

"What are you doing?" She asked. This was a war. People were dying, and they were one of the only people to stop these deaths, and Zuko was just sitting on his bed twiddling his thumbs timidly.

"Waiting for you to calm down, so we can think of a plan." He said calmly.

Fighting the urge shriek, "I'M COMPLETELY CALM!" she sat down next to him, looking extremely downcast.

"A plan? What for? Everyone on our side who isn't dead is injured or unconscious – Aang is alone." She said dejectedly.

"_We're_ still here." Zuko stated matter-of-factly.

Katara was shocked. After all that time he spent chasing Aang for his father, why, now, was he willing to help him and turn against the latter?

"Why are you doing this?" she asked, her voice betraying her emotions: wary, confused and disbelieving.

He did not have an answer. She did not press on.

"Why now?" She asked, "Why not in the caves?"

"Azula" was his only response. If this proud fire bender had ever been close to sounding ashamed of himself, it was now.

Nothing more was said.

"What's the plan?" She finally asked, breaking the silence.

"He will confront the avatar in the throne room. I know a back way in… me and Azula used to spy on the royal happenings from there" he paused. "Follow me. We can reveal ourselves right after the first blow is struck"

She nodded. He led the way, stopping only by the kitchen to gather full water skins for Katara.

**_Your_**_ punishment has scarcely begun!_

The words swam into his head as he approached the place where Fire Lord had punished Prince. He wondered whether history would repeat itself.

They could hear sounds of battle as they approached, and their walked turned to a sprint.

As the two ran into the room, the agile airbender came into sight: he was dodging fire blasts left and right, and when he saw who had come, he paused for a moment, looking into the large blue eyes of the waterbender he loved, taking in her innocent features one last time.

Upon seeing her here, safe, he felt elated. Nothing could go wrong. His spirits were rising rapidly, like he had in the crystal catacombs all that time ago…

_He was rising into the air, an unfeeling look etched on his face as his tattoos glowed the characteristic blue of the avatar state. _

_He was about to strike, and save the world, ridding it of the two evil fire nation royals once and for all. _

_He was going to be a hero, he thought as he rose, higher and higher, and it took all the Dai Lee agents will power not to break their ranks and run. _

_And then he was hit. _

Ozai smiled. This moment's hesitation was all he needed.

Time seemed to have frozen, as if hoping to rewind itself.

The fire from the Fire Lord's fist seemed to stretch, further and further, till it met the avatar, right between the eyes – those which showed first joy, then confusion, then frozen fear, and finally, nothing.

_Electricity coursed through his veins, as the lightning engulfed him. He was falling… falling… falling… _

And the avatar fell.

They were blank and staring, a little like –

_Like Sokka._ Katara thought to herself, silent tears rolling down her cheeks. She was alone now, nobody by her side except for the once enemy.

She did not usually cry so much, but she lost her brother, and, as she made a last ditch attempt to save the world, her last hope, the _world's _last hope, the last and closest thing she had to family was killed before her eyes.

"Aang!" she shouted, seeing the airbender hit the floor with a terrible finality.

Turing around, the Fire Lord started, "I thought I told you to dispo-"

Zuko glared at his father – the cause of all this misery. It was time to end it.

Comprehension dawned in the Fire Lord's eyes, but before he could move, Zuko struck, aiming his blow at the left half of his father's face.

The blaze blinded him, so he did not see the sharp, dagger-like icicles until they pierced his body.

She had just lost her family. All her loved ones were gone in a single, painstakingly long night.

His mother had left him, and he had just _killed_ his father. His _father_! Who he had looked up to, worked so hard to prove himself to… and now, he was the cause of his destruction.

And now, they were alone.

The only two living beings in the room clung to each other – it was all over.

**A/N: Constructive criticism is appreciated. Please, please, PLEASE review and tell me what you think!**

**Jasmine **


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